Meat Marketers Monkey with Monogamy

Posted by: Soapy Dishwater

Subject tags: society, sexuality, psychology, human behavior, anthropology

on Dec 22, 2008 Print PDF
Soapy Dishwater

American dietitians, sex therapists, animal rights advocates, and social anthropologists gave a collective horrified gasp last week when Burger King announced their new body spray for men - Flame.  Described as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat", the Burger King welcomes us to his castle sporting all the furry creepiness of Ron Jeremy, tenderly draped in dead animals, loin enhanced by a strategically placed and potentially phallic fire.

 Sizzling Burger King

 The Burger King marketers have clearly been working in kinky overdrive trying to convince us that burger-belly is the new sexy.  

Last month they raised eyebrows with their Whopper Virgin commercials.   While the concept behind the Whooper virgin has interesting possibilities, BK chose to present the materials with thinly veiled sexual connotations.  And to make matters even more nauseating, the "researchers" patted themselves on the back for expanding the culinary horizons of people who live "really off the grid".  Advertising and BK media blatantly ignored anthropological context when pounding home the reactions of Whopper-preferring taste testers.   7-minute Documentary   

 One thing the researchers said is true.  American minds have been marinating in McDonalds vs Burger King marketing for years.   Thus, we're all tainted, virginally speaking.   

 


 

 

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95
The Smell of Stale French Fries
written by Soapy Dishwater, December 22, 2008
Coming at this from another angle, for better or for worse, the luxury of fast food is tied to American's concept of normal life. However, even our fast food industry has shown signs of economic stress. Drive-thru super-sized french fry boxes and burger wrappers no longer litter the our cars but maybe a spritz of Flame will ease the embarrassment of a clean smelling car.
95
...
written by Soapy Dishwater, December 22, 2008
I wonder if that's a paper crown because he's awfully close to that lit candle plus hair spray is highly flammable....

I hope a complimentary crown comes with each bottle of Flame.
69
Bring on the Clowns!
written by rsr, December 28, 2008
It would seem that the fast food industry has solidified its allegiance to a powerful formula: the more absurd a product or it's advertising, the better it sells. Burger joints have oddly (and perhaps appropriately) come to identify themselves to the American public as clowns. McDonald's started the trend with Ronald and his band of motley friends back in the 70s. For a long time it didn't catch on in the industry, but slowly new clowns popped up. Jack in the Box has, of course, Jack, portrayed as a savvy but whimsical businessman with an enormous head. His kid is a clown, but his wife is "normal," if you could call it normal to be wed to a congenital pop-up toy. (this all calls to mind the Hollywood mass delusion that hot, young women are consistently attracted to dopey, fat-headed men, but that's a subject for later.)

Apparently, Burger King has decided to get in on the circus act. Their Creepy King mascot is a dummy-faced mime whose M.O. is to invade peoples privacy to deliver breakfast sandwiches. He has also been depicted as a "reverse pick-pocket," putting money back in a pedestrian's trousers and then wildly fleeing the scene. Absurdity takes no more pure form.

Sometimes the clowns are more subtly presented. Who can forget the old woman in 1980's Wendy's commercials at the drive-thru calling out "where's the beef"?, and now Carl's Jr./Hardee's is using the quintessential sex clown, Paris Hilton, to push their artery clogging products. Let's not forget Sonic's two dopey buddies, apparently designed to appeal to stoners or to the completely brain-dead. No, they don't have to be dressed in conventional clown garb to fit the formula.

Have you ever noticed that ads for legitimately superior products feature real information about how the product can improve your life? Cloaked in the overtones of that observation is the answer to the whimsy of fast food commercials. Personally, I have not eaten at McDonald's or Burger King for more than 23 years, and I can say the same about most of the other burger joints. Imagine the reactions I get from others when I make that earnest claim; they range from amazement to complete disbelief.

It is fitting that Burger King has come out with a beefy fragrance. I imagine that it will enjoy some success among the patrons of products whose messages are most effectively delivered by clowns. Let us look to such products as sources of data, as I'm sure that any measure of their success is a fine metric for the degree of social immaturity in American culture. After all, every kid loves a clown.

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